Daily Archives: December 9, 2016
Breaking Down The Chicago White Sox Winter Meetings
Thee Chicago White Sox sent a very clear message on Tuesday when they traded longtime ace pitcher Chris Sale to the Boston Red Sox. After failing to end the fourth longest current postseason drought despite lofty expectations, it was time to rebuild, and nobody was safe. Sale, the team’s dominant pitching ace had worn management’s patience thin this season, first by taking potshots at team president Kenny Williams in light of the Adam LaRoche fiasco, then by taking a knife to some admittedly ugly throwback uniforms that were scheduled to be worn on one of his starts. By dangling Sale this offseason, the White Sox were given carte blanche, able to make as high of a demand as they wanted for their talented, yet still an affordable superstar.
In return for the mercurial All-Star, the Sox received a package of baseball’s top prospect in Yoan Moncada, an electric arm in Michael Kopech, center field prospect Luis Alexander Basabe, and pitching prospect Victor Diaz.
White Sox Trade Breakdown
Sully Baseball Daily Podcast – December 9, 2016
Rob Carr/Getty Images North America, Tim Bradbury/Getty Images North America and Elsa/Getty Images North America
It looks like Koji Uehara is heading to the Cubs. They will have three pitchers who have clinched a World Series title out of the pen.
Why not try to get more?
It is time to celebrate and clinch in this episode of The Sully Baseball Daily Podcast.
Enjoy this video podcast.
The San Francisco Giants Should Sign Matt Wieters, Play Posey At 1B + Belt In LF
Matt Wieters accepted the 1 Year Qualifying Offer with the Baltimore Orioles last year – and he played his first full campaign since 2013. At Age 30, he is still a decent Catcher both offensively and defensively. I first came up with this idea a few years ago, but Posey was still putting world class numbers out of the backstopper position, and they had several Outfielders on the depth chart. Now.there is an opening beyond the grass, so Brandon Belt could move there – freeing up Posey to play First Base – and the team to sign Wieters.
The Giants are one of the best franchises at fostering their home grown talent. It has culminated in 3 World Series from 2010 – 2014, and the franchise has several of its core players locked up for the next 3 – 5 years.
With the recent news of the Luxury Tax Threshold penalizing the Dodgers something fierce for obliterating their payroll, the NL West has come back to the Giants to win – considering the LA squad has taken down 4 straight Division Titles.
San Francisco started the process of healing their Bullpen this winter. by forking out some big dollars to secure Closer Mark Melancon ( 4YRs/$62 MIL). There is still a long way to go in shoring up the Relief Core, but they should have the funds to do it.
Which brings me to my next point. Beyond the suspicion that Eduardo Nunez may not be a great long=term fit in the Bay Area, the Roster is pretty secure in the rest of the lineup – except for say the LF position.
There are not a lot of prime Free Agents on the open market that can play the OF. Michael Saunders will cost too much money…Angel Pagan..well the Giants should just say no…Colby Rasmus…yikes…Brandon Moss….um….should be a 1B/DH type in the American League.
As for the depth chart currently for Bruce Bochy‘s squad…..Mac Williamson, Jarrett Parker and Gorkys Hernandez…Not sure that cuts the mustard on a playoff caliber squad.
My thought is – why not sign Matt Wieters to a 3 – 4 year contract worth about $33 – $44 MIL ($11 MIL AAV) – to be the prime Catcher for the Giants – then move Posey to First Base and Brandon Belt to LF? To me it makes sense. Read the rest of this entry
Signing Wllson Ramos WAS A Great Necessary Gamble For The Tampa Bay Rays
Wilson Ramos was in heavy NL MVP consideration in the 1stt half off 2016 – .330./382/.546 – with 14 HRs and 48 RBI for his 1st 68 Games Played before he slowed down a bit in the 2nd half before tearing his ACL (for the 2nd time of his Career) in the last weekend of the regular season. Ramos can deliver as a #4 or #5 Hitter on the Rays if he is fully healthy. The big Venezuelan should see some time as Designated Hitter and Catcher in 2017 – before taking over the primary duties as Catcher in 2017. For a 2 YR/$12.5 MIL minimum commitment, this is a steal for Tampa if Ramos can bounce bacl.
You have to feel horrible for the Wilson Ramos tearing his ACL late in the season for the Nationals. He was one of the most valuable players in the National League for the 1st half of the year.
Ramos would have been the #1 Catcher on the open market had he remained healthy, and could have seen a deal that rivaled the Russell Martin contract from a few seasons ago (5 YRs/$82 MIL). Instead he lost 75% of his value as an injured player.
The 2 year pact comes with a base of $12.5 MIL – and has been said to include several incentive bonuses. This is exactly the kind of risk the Rays need to make in order to compete.
Matt Silverman and the brass are gambling that Ramos could come back in early spring, and then split time as both a DH and Catcher throughout the 2017 season, until he could take the primary backstopper position for the 2018 year.
Tampa Bay struggled in 2016 – failing to register their 1st 80 win season since 2007. but a lot of that was due to Starting Pitcher injuries – or guys underperforming. Among the position that were bad was the Catching Position. Read the rest of this entry
The 19 Most Powerful MLB Hitters Who Didn’t Hit 30 Homers in 2016
One of the biggest displays of power on a baseball field includes a hitter stepping into the batter’s box and mashing a pitch over the outfield wall. A lot of fans enjoy watching home runs more than anything, and posting a gaudy number in that department can help a player land a huge pay day.
But in today’s game, we all know there are more ways to value a player’s power than by simply seeing how many homers they’ve hit in a given season or career. We displayed that in a recent article when talking about New York Yankees rookie sensation, Gary Sanchez.
FanGraphs’ Isolated Power (ISO) metric is one of my favorite advanced stats because it shows a player’s raw power. Those who posted 30-plus homers dominate the 2016 ISO leaderboard, but the presence of a few players got me thinking…
Which hitters had the highest ISO without reaching the 30-homer plateau? FanGraphs says an “excellent” ISO is .250, while a “great” one is .200 or above.
So, I sifted through the leaderboard for all the qualified hitters with at least a .200 ISO to see which ones were the most powerful from this past season.
Here is that list. The bolded and italicized numbers indicate they led this group in that particular category. Below the table, I provide one takeaway for each player.
MLB Reports 
You must be logged in to post a comment.